The Story of Noble Six
by Ruz Malam
Summary: Based on the entire Campaign of Reach. But Six is more personalized than the Spartan you're used to playing. AND Six is female. Actions are based on how I played any given mission at one point.
1. Noble Actual

**Hello, and thank you for choosing to read my second fanfic! Once again, this is another resurrected file from the hard drive grave. At first, I didn't really know if I wanted to put this up, but since Reach is one of my favorite games other than Halo 2 and 4, I decided to do this again. I basically played all the levels to the best of my abilities, wrote every single action I did into the fic, and created dialogue based upon that. It's tedious work, but also fun! I hope you enjoy this and re-experience this campaign in a different light. If you feel something isn't canonically correct, feel free to post that error in a review.**

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Tyra Maribel Greer. July 24, 2552; 07:28 Hours. I jumped into the warthog on my way to the group called Noble Team. I stared at the inside of my red recon helmet; slipping off into a deep but brief trance.

_"I can't believe how far I've come to get where I am now. Years of training, sleepless nights, and the causality of losing an arm. Now it's this; on this planet they call Reach. My home is not here; it is Earth, where my father waits for my return. It was there that I would prove to my father that even women are more capable of fighting than he thinks. I dearly miss him and Earth. However, I've been taught to make sacrifices. And if humanity considers this home, then so do I."_

The air was dry yet mildly humid. The wind had a strong scent. I remembered that I had a mission - whatever this Noble Team ordered me to do. I put my helmet on and waited for the ride to be over. It was a mildly bumpy one. I noticed some trees scattered around the driver and I. Loud beating noises fanned overhead. I looked up and behind me; two flying vehicles. I had never seen them before.

"What are those flying above us?" I asked the driver.

"They're called falcons, method of transport." He said without looking at me. I sat back in my seat.

_"Already, this journey is going to be an interesting one."_

The falcons landed just ahead of a building. The driver skidded to a stop just in front of them. I leapt out, looking a little to my right.

_"Finally, I'm here."_ As another falcon went by, towards a mountain, the warthog drove off. To my left was one of the falcons. As I touched one of its back wings, a voice from the building ahead of me caught my attention.

"Contact with Visegrád Relay was lost last night. All signals flatlined at twenty-six hundred hours."

In the falcon whose wing I touched was a man without hair; appeared to be in his late 20's, mid 30's. He caught my eye immediately. His blue eyes set on me; even as I walked away I could feel him. From his weapon, he appeared to be a sniper specialist. His armor made him look very assertive, proud, and brave even. I knew he was curious about me. I could tell by the way his eyes were fixed on me as he slowed down filling his sniper magazine with rounds.

That voice I heard before broke my attention of the man in the falcon. I walked towards the building.

"I responded with trooper fire teams, which have since been declared MIA."

"And now you're sending us?" A man in blue armor said being in front of a holographic computer.

I walked to the entrance as the man on the com was speaking; obviously a higher rank than the man in front of the com.

"The Office of Naval Intelligence believes deployment of a Spartan team is a gross misallocation of valuable resources. I disagree."

I noticed another man with a skull helmet on in the back of the room. Made me curious if he did the artwork himself. He was sharpening his knife on his shoulder pauldron. Before I could fully enter, a prostetic arm, like mine, in light blue armor stopped me from going any further.

_"Must be second in command."_ I thought. It was a woman. She looked to her leader.

"Commander." She called out to him. He and a man in orange armor, big he was, looked at me. The big guy said, "So that's our new number Six." As I stepped forward, as if I was summoned, the woman looked at me. The man with the skull helmet asked the woman,

"Kat? You read her file?"

"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink." I chuckled a little to myself at that statement. I knew that meant she didn't read a single word.

It was just then that I noticed the commander looking at me before he turned his head to the holographic computer. He asked the colonel;

"Anyone claim responsibility, Sir?"

"ONI thinks it might be the local insurrection. Five months ago, they pulled a similar job on Harmony. Hit a relay to take out our eyes and ears, then stole two freighters from dry-dock. That cannot happen here. Reach is too damn important. I want that relay back online, Noble One."

"Sir. Consider it done." He turned to me grabbing his helmet off the table as the two other men stood up. "Lieutenant."

"Commander, sir." The men headed out as Kat joined them at the door.

"I'm Carter, Noble Team's leader. That's Kat, Noble Two, Emile and Jorge, Four and Five. You're riding with me, Noble Six." As he put on his helmet, he continued on as I followed him, saying, "I'm not gonna lie to you, Lieutenant. You're stepping into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled."

Ah, yes, the former Noble Six. I remember now. A causality based on not following orders and sticking with the team.

We all got into the falcons. Emile and Kat in one Falcon while the others with me. Carter sat across from me, with Jorge on his right. To my left was the rifleman, already waiting for us.

"Me, I'm just happy to have Noble back up to full strength. Just one thing. I've seen your file. Even the parts the ONI censors didn't want me to. I'm glad to have your skill set, but we're a team. That lone wolf stuff stays behind. Clear?" Carter said to me as the Rifleman looked at me.

"Got it, Sir." Already this was looking somewhat down but from mention of the former Six, I expected this. But still, I'm pulling out of my comfort zone. Even for a Spartan, this was something I've NEVE done.

_"I've never been in a team before. How am I going to just shrug off my lone wolf instincts? I have to try and keep it together."_

The rifleman next to me said only three words; "Welcome to Reach." His accent struck me hard; yes, I'm a Spartan, but the sole reason why I only speak except when spoken to is because, unlike other Spartans, I keep my feelings hidden, I don't eradicate them completely.

And the man to my left? He was already beginning to intrigue me. As the falcons took off, I refocused my attention to the mission at hand. Wait, what was the mission?

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**I hoped you liked this! I am going to personalize Six a little bit, so mind the seemingly OOCness.**

**Next Time: Noble Six goes to Visegrád, and experiences some new things as the newest team member.**


	2. Winter Contingency

**Oh boy, this is by far, the longest chapter of any of the fanfics I've written! And the longest for this story! This is another renewed story. Hope you guys enjoy this one!**

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Part 1 - Visegrád:

Our two falcons began to zoom past the mountains nearby while Carter was debriefing the mission.

"Listen up, Noble Team. We're looking at a downed relay outpost, fifty klicks from Visegrád. We're going to introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, then Kat's going to get it back online."

I listened intently wanting to hear every instruction as it was; not missing anything important - because anything the leader says is important. That is what my father taught me as a child. My father always insisted that he was my leader, and therefore was always right. Most people would consider my father as a terrible parent, but he's the reason I'm even in this falcon listening to Carter right now.

The man next to me was eyeing the ground like any good sniper would. Something inside me said to keep a watchful eye on him.

"Just get me under the hood, Commander." Kat's words broke my train of thought. I became aware that though I knew I had to pay attention, already it was slipping. And the man to my left was the main cause. I turned my head to Carter, with the man out of my peripheral vision, and regained focus.

"Sir, why would rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of the colonies?" Jorge asked through the com, being on the other falcon with Kat.

"You get a chance, maybe you can ask them, Jorge." Carter replied.  
I looked at my feet. I was beginning to think about the mission, how hard it might be. I understood that I was placed into a team that tackled difficult situations, but obviously, this one was messy.

A silence occurred for a moment, enough time to ponder the mysterious man to my left. But before I could even get a quick look at him, Kat said something important.

"Commander, we just lost our signal with HQ."

"Backup channels?

"Searching...nada. Can't say what's jamming us."

"You heard her. Dead zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company this trip."

"I'm lonely already." Emile ended with the last word.

I chuckled a bit at Emile's comment. Though, I wanted to say something funny back, I could think of nothing. My inward emotions did not accurately portray my outward appearance. At this point of silence, my insides were starting to wiggle a bit; I became scared.

_"What could this mean? Is there something we do not know about?" /i In my mind, a giant hand slapped me across the face. Yes, understood, I need to hide the fear and maintain composure. I'm a trained Spartan now. I'm not some little girl who was once defenseless. I can take care of myself."_

"Six, you alright?" Carter asked me as we neared the outpost. I looked at him, not showing any emotion in case he saw through my visor.

"Sir, yes sir."

"Good, because we all need to maintain focus and not allow anything fog our vision of the objective."

I sighed. I knew I had to put away my fears now. I looked once again at the man to my left. He is so quiet. I've only heard one single sentence from him. His mysterious nature was drawing me in. Wanting to know more.

_"Dammit! There I go again, traveling blindly off the path of a train of thought. Curse distractions easily…distracting me…"_

Now hovering over the outpost, I paid all my attention to Carter as he spoke to the pilot. I would train my mind to listen as my father taught me.

"Shootdowns are likely, so keep your distance."

"Yes sir!"

"Let's stay focused, watch your sectors."

His words were the very thing that my brain has been fighting for and against since I hopped into the falcon. They were what I needed to keep me going. Clenching a fist, I promised myself that I would not fail my father; nor this group of fine soldiers.

"There's the communications outpost." Jorge alleged. I looked down at the building where it was coming from.

_"Very rural indeed."_

"Reading a distress beacon." Kat mentioned to the team. I grew curious of this beacon. I wasn't the only one. I looked at Carter again, then turned my head to the man to my left; only shifting my eyes. He looked my direction and I could have sworn he precipitated my exchange of looks. I couldn't place the reason, but even barely seeing his blue eyes through his visor, I felt my cheeks redden just a little. I shook my head, hoping no one saw. Carter was looking the other direction, thankfully. I turned my head back to the source of the distress beacon. What was it about the man in green armor that hooked me so? And for what reason did my cheeks redden with warmth?

Trying once again to preserve concentration, I waited for further instruction.

"Could be the missing troopers, let's check it out," Said Carter. I felt the falcon moving slowly downward, in a sort of spiral. "Put us down on the bluff." The falcon circled for a landing. I oversaw the various hills below and the steep walk I would have to endure. "Jun, I want your eyes in the sky."

"Sir" My eyes widened.

_"J-Jun? I now know this mysterious man's name?" _Taking in a pocket of air down my throat, I felt this incredible urge to find out more about this man named Jun. But I knew that had to wait; I had a mission to do. Find the missing troopers._ "Still, that one word he spoke sent chills up my spine."_

The falcon landed where Carter had asked him to…

"Let's go Six."

…and I took in a deep breath, ready for anything to come my way.

Hopping out of the falcon, I only wanted a taste of Jun's eyes one more time before departing from him. Wanting to know if his eyes were really following me before I met the team. I looked at him, only a glance, and he answered the question before I could figuratively ask it. _"He nodded at me. He didn't just give me a long stare, he nodded!"_

"Good luck, Six." Jun added to his nod before the falcon flew off. A slight chill went up my spine, it was as if I had been stunned at the base of the spinal cord; I could not move. At least not yet…

"Six? This is no time for daydreaming." Carter barked at me.

"Yes, Sir. My apologies, Commander." I turned around hastily, trying to hide any emotion yet again. Kat and Carter were beside me. Carter went up to me.

"Six, are you sure you are alright?"

"Sir, yes sir. I'll not be distracted again."

"Very good. Just what I wanted to hear. Aright, Noble Team, to that distress beacon, let's move!"

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Part 2 - NOBLE Team:

As we made to the building, I sighed, attempting to shake off the chill that still lingered in my spine.

"Alright, Noble Team. Spread out. Watch the approach." Carter ordered the team as I followed them down the hillside. About halfway making it to the hill, Emile hopped up and climbed it, examining the area.

"Structure point 3-4, looks clear from this angle."

I looked at Emile, amazed at his jumping and balancing skill. Any Spartan could do that, but the sheer cat-like reflexes were impressive. A little to my left, I noticed Jun in the falcon and the other leaving the area, as well as the moon in the sky. I surveyed my right side.

_"It's so quiet. Too quiet…strange."_

Carter began to head near the beacon with Kat and the others, I followed suit. We hiked along a path near a couple rocks and some trees that led around the various platforms and to the beacon.

"Distress beacon's coming just south of you Commander, we're close." Kat says as we near it.

"Roger that, eyes peeled." Carter replies.

We soon come to a burning vehicle, a warthog from the looks of it, next to a small building. Emile spotted an object that was red and shiny. He moved the pieces of wood surrounding it, knelt down and inspected the palette on the ground.

"Found the beacon." He said picking it off the grass and standing up. He tossed it to Kat, asking, "Make out any I.D.?"

"Negative, but it's military," She responded back after she caught it. She looked at it closely for a moment, eyes the building, then threw the beacon back to the ground. Before I could ask the question myself, Jorge did for me over the com.

"So where are the troopers?"

"Why are we not seeing explosives residue?" Kat queried as the she, Carter and I formed a triangle. Emile went over to oversee the ground near the building.

"Noble Three, can you confirm any 'ex residue in the area?" Carter asked standing directly in front of the burning warthog.

"Hmm…negative Sir." Jun almost sounded unsure,

_"He was awfully fast in his response."_

"Plasma, maybe." Emile suggested, still surveying the concrete near the abandoned building.

"Can't be. Not on Reach." Jorge insisted.

"There's a lot of blood on the ground." Emile inputted, further making observations, trying to prove his point.

"Alright Noble, looks like nothing's here, let's move on." Carter commanded.

I went over to Emile's spot to note the blood on the ground. Discerning the blood splatters, I sighed solemnly, hoping no one was killed here.

"Come on Six, let's see what might have caused harm to any civilians." Carter consoled me. I got up and followed Noble Team towards a cluster of buildings.

"Smoke at the next structure, boss." Kat informed him.

I looked over to my left and sure enough, smoke was rising into the air from the building ahead.

"Circle west and check it out. Noble Team: you have permission to engage, but be selective. We don't need to telegraph a presence."

I followed Carter down the hill towards a path leading up to the structure. I noticed a suspicious gate to my far left, ahead of the location of the beacon. A couple Moas ran past us. Their shrieks started me so much that I accidentally killed one.

"Whoa! Easy there, Six! It's just one of the birds." Emile put his hand on my shoulder, shaking me a little.

"Sorry. I was alarmed. I thought it might have been a Rebel."

"Humans don't make bird noises like that," He chuckled as we got closer to the structure.

Emile ran right past me, with the others behind me. I walked down some concrete stairs and up a couple wooden ones. I noticed some windmill looking things. For some reason they caught my attention. They felt familiar for some reason.

"Noble Six, move into the house. Go in quiet. I'm right behind you." Emile was already in the house. I moved into the dark house and I felt a presence.

"Noble Leader, I'm seeing heat-sigs in the structure ahead!" Jun warned us from the coms. I backed up a little but then decided to go up a short flight of stairs trailing to the other side of the house. A falcon landed in the courtyard long enough to drop Jorge off, then took off. A door opened, and a civilian male steppd out. Others remain inside the house; one was even peeking through the window, a woman, possibly the man's wife and the two others his children.

"Én nem csináltam semmit!" _(I didn't do anything!) _The man's voice sounded very frightened; he had his hands up, surrendering. I didn't know what he was saying but I knew it was Hungarian. I watched as Emile inched closer to him with his shotgun pointing to the poor man's face.

"Move! On your knees, _now_!"

"Ne lőjön! Ne lőjön! _(__Don't shoot! Don't shoot!__)"_

"They're not rebels, they're farmers. Look at them." Jorge said sympathetically about the man. I smiled, looking over at Jorge.

_"Jorge is such a sweetheart!"_

"Ask him what they're doing here." Carter told Jorge. He went a little closer to the farmer.

"Mit kerestek itt? (_What are you doing here?__)_"

"Csak nem akartunk meghalni. (_We just didn't want to die.__)_"

"Hiding, sir. Neighbors were attacked last night. He heard screams, gunfire. It stopped around sunrise." Jorge said translating the farmer's words.

"Valami megölte a fiamat. (_Something killed my son__.__)_"

"He says something in the fields...killed his son."

"Something?" Carter asked, baffled by the word something, curious of what it could have been.

"_Well, at least we know it isn't human. An indigenous creature perhaps?"_

"Commander, be advised. I'm reading heat signatures at the structure directly east from your position. Over." Jun forewarned us.

"Copy that. Get them back inside."

"Azt mondtam, befelé! (_I said get in! Get in!__)_" Jorge directed the farmer. He ran into the house and the door closed behind him.

We all moved towards where Jun aimed our attentions to. I was behind Jorge and Emile with the other two in front, already ahead of the pack.

"Noble team, double time it." Hearing Carter's command, I activated my sprint to try and keep up with him. Eventually, Carter, Kat, and I made it to the structure. I was emotionally devastated but did not show it outwardly. We were surrounded by human corpses, with two pinned to the wall.

"Damn…" Carter said with almost a disgusted tone of voice.

"You took the word right from my mouth, Sir." I told him, looking at the dead bodies.

"Fill me in, Commander, what are you seeing? Over." Said Jun.

Carter knelt down over the pools of blood and examined them. Dipping his fingers in the blood, rubbing them together then shook it off.

"We've got military casualties, two of the missing troopers. Looks like they were interrogated...It's messy."

I noticed the floor next to the pools of blood. I bent over likewise to investigate.

"What is it Six?" Carter stood over me.

"Sir, look at the floor. There are not only bloody human footprints here but there also seems to be avian-like footprints here, as well. This was obviously a struggle that was lost by these poor souls." I stood up, proud of my finding.

"Sharp eye, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir."

Carter put his back to the door, poking his head out ever so slightly, probing the other room closely, then signaled the okay to go in.

I went in and saw another dead body. Then I noticed my motion tracker.

"Movement. Watch your motion trackers." Carter told us.

"Already am, Sir."

"What the hell was that?" Emile said

"Jun, you see anything?"

"Negative. Thermal's clean."

As I approached the exit of the building, I wanted to share my thought with Carter.

"I believe the footprints are related to the movement on our trackers, Sir." I implied moving slowly towards the other side of the building.

"Possibly, Six. Now, keep quiet. We don't want to alert our presence."

"Yes Sir."

_"Damn! I must've have said too much already if he told me to shut it…"_

Headed up a small stair case and into a nearby building, I went over to a vent to see if I could see any enemies.

"Six, what are you doing?" Carter asked me putting his hand on my shoulder. I turned around, failing to see anything anyhow.

"Trying to get a good view of where any hostiles might be, sir.

He never responded to that, only moved forward.

_"Did…did I amaze him? Or just piss him off?"_

"Boss! I see movement outside your structure!" That alarmed everyone.

Something in the left window caught my eye. It was a creature that I have never seen! But it definitely looked like a Covvie and fit the description of the footprint I saw before.

"Sir! To your 9!" I called out. He saw the avian creature and said,

"Noble Two, move up to the west, we're about to be flanked."

As the avian creature on the rooftop squawked in alarm to other Covenant in the area, Jorge didn't know what was going on.

"Huh?"

Emile did, however.

"Damn it!"

"Covenant!" Jorge alerted us as the avian did its troops.

"What is that creature, Kat?" I asked.

"The troopers call it a Skirmisher. Just a cousin of a Jackal."

"Contact, contact! Spartans, assist!" Carter decreed the group.

"Here we go…" Jorge said sarcastically.

Switching to the magnum, I killed the Skirmisher that alerted the others with a headshot, Carter added,

"They're heading into the basement, move down to the lower levels!"

I heard gunfire from the falcon above. I tried to kill the red Skirmisher but missed and hit the pipe in front of me. The next try earned me another headshot. Reloading, I faced Jorge, helping him kill the Grunt ahead of him. He, too, died from the bullet to the head. I injured a Skirmisher on the adjacent rooftop twice; the third killed it. I missed twice killing the Skirmisher that jumped in the grunt's place. Carter earned a headshot from a Grunt as well. Killed that Skirmisher with two shots as well as the last one on the rooftop above him. A nearby explosion forced me to take cover behind a wall.

"You okay, Six?"

"Yes, sir, shields went down a little that's all."

"Alright, take it slow…but not too slow. Just don't rush or you'll really lose you're shields. Got it?"

"Yes commander."

They group moved into the area, leaving me behind. Seeing Jorge kill another Skirmisher up top forced me to come out of hiding. Unfortunately all the targets were down, None were left for me.

"We're clear, sir."

I went up with the rest of the group and followed them up to the bridge ahead. To my left were two Grunts which I tried to kill quickly with headshots but they were too fast. It took my three tries to kill him and the other went out of my view behind a rock and was killed by Jorge anyhow.

We moved across the bridge as the Jun and falcon pilot stated,

"Noble Leader, enemy dropships inbound!"

"Falcon moving to assist!"

As the Spirit dropship was releasing its reinforcements, Jorge was already trying to get some of the action. Because of the energy I had flowing through me, I shot somewhat aimlessly, hoping to kill some of the scattered Grunts ahead. Fortunately, after luckily injuring some, I managed to get a headshot - and a plasma burn to the helmet thanks to the Spirit. I moved up in between two rocks. I killed two Grunts and threw a frag in a group of them, killing sadly only a Skirmisher I failed to see in front of me. I made the loss up with a headshot to a Grunt. Jorge received two more kills, which, though I was beginning to like the guy, enraged me greatly. Only because the recent distractions, such as Jun, were clouding my judgment.

I immediately turned to my right and instinctively not even aware of its presence, sent a bullet to a Skirmisher's head. I heard Jorge groan in pain a little. I heard his voice from the very back of the pack saying,

"Nice shooting!" I looked back, nodding my head at him, acknowledging his compliment but not wanting to say anything.

"Stand down, Noble, stand down. Contacts neutralized."

"Contacts? It's the damn Covenant!" Replied Jorge to Carter's order.

"Cheer up big man. This valley just turned into a free-fire zone." Consoled Emile.

"Kat, we've got to warn Holland. I need you at that relay outpost now."

"Boss! I'm showing more activity to the east!"

_"Thank God we have Jun on our team…"_

"Copy that Jun, we're on it. Six, you've got point."

As we crossed the creek, I realized just how low I was in the ranks.

_"I'm going to be asked to go into the danger first…like a Grunt. Guess that's why I've got to earn a better rank first."_

We engaged some Grunts, taking them out easily. And then came the Elite Ultras, harder than hell to take down if you're not careful. We threw some frags at their feet and apparently, they didn't seem to like their shields going down. Nearly avoided a plasma grenade to my face. I hid behind some hay bales to reload. I greatly injured one of the Elites, letting one of the other kill it for me. Kat meleed the second. I managed to tackle the last Elite and stab him in the eye.

"Roger that, we're clear. And Six, you did good."

"Thank you, Emile." That comment I could not avoid.

"Commander, I'm seeing more hostile activity to the north-east."

"Emile, you're with Kat. Six and I will run interference on the ground. We'll meet you at the outpost."

Carter, Jorge and I headed towards a flatbed truck as Kat called to Jun for airlift.

"Get to work, Noble."

I decided that I'd drive since Carter obviously did not want to. Jorge had to sit in the back no matter what, for which I felt badly.

As everyone got settled in, I drove along the mossy path ahead surrounded by matching trees.

And then it suddenly hit me -

_"The enemy was not the rebels all along. Boy, have I been distracted this entire mission…"_

* * *

Part 3 - Rebels Don't Leave Plasma Burns:

Driving the flatbed truck to the direction the Commander pointed to, I felt that this war would only get more tense. Going between two hillsides, I let the sound and vibration of the truck calm my nerves. I noted the Commander's nerves of steel as a mark of a true leader.

_"One day, I'll be as cool and collected as Commander Carter."_

After that thought, I focused on the road ahead. I had just drove in between the edge of the mountainside and a tall tree next to a rock spire when I noticed a flock of Moas passing by. That made me curious - something must've frightened them. I had no doubt in my mind that the Covenant were nearby. Without even realizing it, Jorge began to shoot down a Skirmisher next to one of two adjacent rock spires up ahead. I slowed down a little so he could kill it more easily. A Moa was caught in the crosshairs of fire unfortunately. I looked to my 6, one Skirmisher fell, then to my 9 and another fell. Yet again, a poor Moa was sandwiched within raging bullets. I sighed, still focusing on the road ahead.

_"My reaction time isn't as good as the others. What exactly is my skill set then?"_

Not giving my full attention to driving, I realized I had slowed down a little at the entrance of a bridge. When I was aware of this, I sped up, continuing on.

"Enemy sighted!" Jorge called out. I saw a lone Skirmisher at least 50 or so feet away from the vehicle. A smirk crept upon my face. I'm certain Carter noticed it because he stared at me - and since you cannot see that well through the visor, he probably had a confused look behind it. I sped up the highest speed the vehicle could go and splattered the creature. I wasn't really hoping for any comment from either Jorge or Carter; nor did they give me one. I just felt this unrelenting urge to splatter the damn Covvie.

When I had turned around to go the other direction, I realized it was still alive! I muttered a cuss word under my breath and went for a second attempt. Jorge, oblivious to my intention, took the Skirmisher down himself. I sighed disappointedly but shrugged it off. Moving on, another Skirmisher was quickly taken care of by Jorge.

"Noble Leader, I'm seeing Heat Sigs in the structure ahead." The structure looked sort of like a house with a canopy stretching towards another part of the structure. I came to a quick stop just underneath the canopy in front of a doorway.

"Everybody out!" Carter exclaimed as we simultaneously hopped off out of the vehicle. As I neared the doorway, a Grunt came out, firing at me. I ignored the nuisance - at least I did until his firing actually took down my shields. About to defend myself, another grunt came out. I wasn't too worried about two measly Grunts; although I knew an Elite would be rounding the corner at any moment, attempting to virtually beat me down. Backing up a little, I threw a grenade to the Grunts and just behind the wall, I heard an Elite roaring; probably throwing up his arms in rage. I didn't understand why but I knew my suspicion was confirmed. Crouching, I waited for it to come out. I did not expect it to be a Ranger of all ranks - nor a rare golden one at that.

The grenade I threw killed both Grunts and barely injured the golden ranger, who was questionably trying to flee. I would inot/i allow him to do this. I rounded the pillar that he ran by, obviously not aware of me. As I came to the other side of the pillar, the creature oddly was facing the pillar, as if it didn't need to fight us off. I went to melee his side as the others were firing at him. He faced me and I thought,i"Yes! This is my chance!"/i I tackled him and pinned him down. Whilst doing so, he struggled, growling at me. I readied my knife, watching its lifeless eyes felt its doom coming upon it. I stuck the knife in its throat and lingered there in that pose a while. Taking it out of the flesh and sheathing the knife, I stopped to catch my breath. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Looks like we're clear Lieutenant. Nice work, by the way. Let's move on." I nodded, finally catching my breath. As I walked towards the truck, I noticed the array of dead Covenant in the area outside of the structure. Inside the truck now, we moved on away from the structure.

"Boss! I'm showing more activity to the east! I advise you check it out."

"Roger Jun, we're enroute."

Strolling down to a wide path with some trees and a creek, A skirmisher was causing us trouble near one of the trees. Jorge took care of it. Another passed by, hitting me with one of their needle rifle shots. Once again, I was fooled. Neither Skirmisher was dead. And the red one escaped traveling in between a small boulder and the mountain. It took me three tries to splatter the damn thing. I circled back around the boulder and went where Jun directed us.

Near the creek, I splattered three Grunts in one messy but fell swoop. I got out of the truck, switched my assault rife for the pistol to change the mags before crossing the creek. I switched back to my assault rifle, Beyond the creek, at the foot of the nearby structure, I stuck a Grunt who attempted to do the same but failed. I sided stepped his grenade and watched it die. Seeing an Elite Major, I hid behind some barrels for a second before attacking it. It fired at me, I chucked a plasma at it. I felt the taste of my own medicine from the Elite as I did to the Grunt. It sideswiped the grenade, unharmed. Enraged a little, I shot at it in a controlled burst of my assault rifle. This forced him to come at me but I backed up, Before it could react, I meleed him, weakening his shields. As he reacted to my attack, I went for another melee attack but to my dismay, it did not stun him this time. I turned around, firing at both the Grunt and the Elite who backed up away from me. The Grunt threw a grenade and it landed near my foot. When I thought I was clear of it, the blast radius was close enough to dangerously take down my shields; inches from death, On my knees, I almost accepted defeat, feeling my shields being unresponsive, I did not want to get up.

Hearing gunfire in my dizzy state, Carter had moved in front of me, defending me. After all enemies were down, My shields still refused to recharge. I felt as if my lungs were about to collapse. They say that Spartans don't feel pain - I was trained to feel pain. To be more human than the rest because my father, even through his discrimination against women, taught me that it's okay to feel pain. But it isn't okay to let it control you and take you down. But right now, I couldn't control the fact that my shields were malfunctioning; I had to give in to pain. Now I know what Carter meant when he said he read my file. I'm probably one of the few Spartans out there, if not the only one, who feels pain.

Carter had his hand out, offering to help me rise back to fighting stance. I looked up, seeing the shadow and took his offer. Though he was generous, his voice sounded stern.

"Get up, Noble." As I stood to my feet, Carter put my arm around his shoulder, walking me slowly to the truck. I thought he would let me drive but he knew how badly my shields had gone down. As I relaxed in the side seat of the truck, I mentally beat myself up for allowing pain to get in the way.

"Noble Leader, I'm picking up a distress signal."

"Mayday! 3 Charlie Six, does anyone read? We were attacked by Covenant forces. The Covenant is on Reach. I repeat: the Covenant is on Reach."

"The troopers?" Jorge asked.

"Let's move, Six. We've gotta find the source of that distress call." Carter interjected.

"No disrespect, but don't we have more important things to do than round up strays?" Jun pointed out.

"We don't leave people behind. You see those troopers, you let me know."

_"Why would Jun ask such a question?"_

"Noble Leader, I'm seeing possible friendly forces under attack south of your position, over!"

**"**We're under attack, repeat, mayday, mayday, 3 Charlie Six, we're under attack by the Covenant, I've got wounded, cannot hold this position."

"We need to find those troopers now!" Carter exclaimed firmly. Being the driver, he put the pedal to the metal - just when I thought I could have some relaxation, even if only a few minutes. As we neared a Covenant landing site, Carter ran over one Skirmisher and left the other alone; focusing more on the troopers.

"Noble Three, we've located the trooper squad. Request immediate evac. My coordinates."

"Solid copy, Commander. Recalling Falcon Charlie 2. Hold that evac position."

Carter parked in front of the structure the troopers were defending, placing me behind a wall until I can walk and fight once more. The two Spartans and the troopers cleared out the Covvies eventually. I felt less pain as I watched Jun's Falcon pass overhead.

_"He is slowly becoming my guardian angel."_ I got up, dusting myself off. I didn't yet go outside.

"Spartans? Corporal Travis, 3 Charlie, sir. It's the Covenant..."

"We know, Corporal. Let's get you out of here."

"Noble Leader, be advised: I have visual on inbound Covenant dropships."

"Evac transport, keep your distance!" Carter looked in my general direction. "Six, hold this position. Clear an LZ."

"Yes sir," I replied somewhat weakly. I shrugged off the pain. I noticed the amount of Covenant the Phantom was carrying and I immediately had a plan. I looked at Carter, hoping he would catch my gesture as I hopped back into the flatbed truck. He looked over at me, paying little attention to the dropship now.

"Noble 6, where the HELL are you going?" Carter called out to me.

"I'm not leaving the crashsite Sir. I'm collecting some road kill."

He didn't say anything back. He just stood there, watching me back out of the area slightly then moving back in as the Covenant dropped in, allowing me to mop them up with the tires of the truck.

"Interesting method." Corporal Travis said quietly.

Carter got slightly distracted, and annoyed, watching me do what I do best - causing mayhem when given the opportunity. The Phantom's turret took down his shields as well as Jorge's. The two hid behind a bunch of barrels, sitting next to each other.

"I thought I was clear when I stated the lone wolf stuff stays behind." He told Jorge as he reloaded his DMR.

"Well, Sir, she isn't completely being a lone wolf. She's just…filling out your orders in a, eh, unique way." Jorge replied. Carter gave a dissatisfied look to Jorge.

"Still, we each can hold out on our own. She doesn't need to take care of them this way. She might lead them away from the crash site, true, but she might have the vehicle destroyed before she even leads them away from here."

"Sir, I don't think she intends on leading the Covenant away from here." Jorge pointed towards me, still in the vehicle. They both peeked above the barrels, careful to not get caught in the line of fire.

In the vehicle, I paced back and forth, from one edge of the trail to the other.

"3 Charlie, fire now while I have them distracted!" They caught on to my plan and they quickly and efficiently took out diverted enemies while I mopped up the rest who tried to attack them instead.

"Alright…I'll hand it to her. She had a good idea there." Carter admitted.

"Yeah, very clever!" Jorge added.

I parked the vehicle in front of the structure. I got out, going straight to Carter.

"I apologize, Sir, I was making sure the troopers didn't get mortally wounded. I knew that the Covenant would be easily distracted by the act of chaotic driving. So I decided to give it a try. I never intended on leaving the crash site. But I did not want to risk another near-death situation like I had back at the last structure. Especially with lives on the line." Carter took a minute to reply.

"I understand that, but unless ordered to, you do not pull any stunts like that. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sir."

"Alright, I'll forget that you did that as long as you don't do it again."

I sighed of relief. _"I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to…spice things up a bit. Even if it meant to save other lives,"_ I ignored my mistake and moved on.

"Transport, LZ is clear. Move in for evac."

"Affirmative. Transport inbound." As the two falcons landed, I eased up a bit; glad that it was time to take a short but well-earned break from fighting. I quickly ran over to the place where I hid before pulling that stunt and grabbed the DMR on the ground.

One Falcon carried the troopers and the other held Jun, Jorge, Carter, and I. Making my way back to the Falcon, Carter said,

"Troopers, hop that bird on the double. Pilot, stay close, watch for hostile air."

As I made my way to the Falcon I'd be riding on, I watched the troopers get in theirs. Before getting in, I noticed Jun sitting patiently and calmly. I didn't want him seeing my face redden for the reason I still haven't found out yet. I discreetly and quickly nodded to him as a greeting before getting in. I could have ignored him except that even through his thick colored visor, I could see the outlines of his eyes holding my own glance. He put his hand to my shoulder before getting in.

"Hey, I heard you got injured. You alright?" I almost didn't know how to respond to that. I figured that the communications were sketchy and that he obviously didn't get to see whether I was badly hurt or worse. Or if he cared simply because he just did. "Well, you okay are not, Six?" I snapped out of my deep-thinking mode. He was talking to ME.

"Yes, I'm fine. Yourself?" He chuckled before answering.

"Hmm, you know me, a couple bullets barely shaved the paint off my armor, but hey, what can you do?" I so badly wanted to laugh at that. But I forced to keep it in. I sat down in the seat of the Falcon, enjoying however long I would rest here.

Laying back in the seat as the Falcon took off, I glanced over at Jun, trying not to catch attention to the other two.

_"Is this new strange feeling obvious to him?" _I shook my head, trying to wave off whatever this feeling was.

"Six, you sure you okay?" Jorge asked. I almost jumped out an inch out of my seat because before, it was silent. Before answering, I glanced at Jun to see if he was paying attention to me.

"Yes, Jorge, I'm good."

"I hope so. You seem jumpy. Ever since we started this mission."

"It's the feeling of being in a team. It's…a little different for me but I realize I have to put aside a lot of things to be successful in this."

"The feeling you have, Six, might be a little different, scary even if you let it get to you, but just remember we have got a job to do here." Carter added.

"Come on boss, she may be skilled but go easy on her. She's a newbie to our team so she needs time to adjust." Jun finished, chuckling a little.

_"W-wow…he defended me…" _I was baffled by his act of kindness. Almost stunned.

"Don't get so red, Six, I was only pointing out how new you are to Noble Team!" Even from my angle, I could tell he had a slight smirk on his face. I didn't have to see through his visor, I knew from the tone in his voice that he was. Nevertheless, I was indeed startled that he knew I was red in the face.

"Yes, thank you Jun…" I said quietly, trying to ignore that he might now whatever secret that even I cannot comprehend within myself.

"Noble Two, sit-rep."

"We're at the relay outpost. Door's locked. Mechanism's been flash-fused."

"Can you beat it?"

"I dialed up my torch, cut a way through. Going to take some time."

"Okay, we're en route to your location."

After Kat and Carter finished their conversation, I looked at the mountains and roads below. A breath-taking view of the moon over a mountain left me in awe.

I noticed a courtyard filled with Covenant and thought,

_"Oh God, more fighting…"_

"We're approaching the com outpost." Said the pilot.

"Drop us in the courtyard."

"LZ's a little hot, sir-"

"Put her down, pilot. Six, break's over."

_"Damn…"_ I hopped out as Carter said,

"Charge!"

_"I was enjoying that break, too…"_

As the falcon flew off, Carter and I both threw grenades at a group of Jackals. A headshot to another Jackal and I felt back in the fighting zone - even though the Jackal next to him was difficult to kill after about seven shots. I cursed my body. I was obviously still shaky from that grenade blast from earlier.

I let out a big sigh as I changed mags and followed Carter into the coms outpost.

"How we doing, Kat?"

"Taking a little longer than I hoped, Commander. I've cut about halfway through the door." I watched her work at the controls of the sliding door. Carter had his back to the wall next to Kat.

"Contact!" Emile stated.

"Hold them off until Kat can hack the controls!"

As the Covenant arrived via dropship, Jorge's words gave me something to laugh about and agree with.

"You're in for a world of hurt!"

I noticed an Elite on the other side of the courtyard and immediately engaged with it. I beat him down when his shields were less than satisfactory to it. As I entered the structure near the coms outpost, two kamikaze Grunts were coming dangerously close to me, moving down the stairs. But I quickly ended their life with a bullet to the head. Reloading my DMR, I sighed in relief.

_"Glad I didn't get caught up in that mess."_

I shot at some enemies from afar at that area of the building, turning to my left. A skirmisher damaged my shields but I retaliated with a couple shots back. It hid behind the barrels and another took its place a few feet farther up, asking for death. A Grunt surprised me at the head of the staircase where his kamikaze brethren fell. Two others came down and died with bullets in between their eyes.

"Kat?"

"Just about...there! We're in!"

"Everybody inside! Go, go, go!"

As we hustled to get inside, explosives got vicious and deadly at the door. Just before it closed, I threw a plasma at two Jackals, sending them flying.

"I knew there cousins could jump but I didn't know they could fly!"

After that I aimlessly fired at incoming enemies. But managed to get a headshot of an Elite before the door even began to close. As it was inches away from closing, one of the banshees that was ready to be demolished, thanks to the others, was coming close to the door, either firing its cannon or dropping down on me kamikaze style. As it came down, I fired at the hood and it exploded when the door closed, sealing off any harm away from me.

"Heh heh! I got that banshee good!"

No one verbally expressed how impressed they were with that shot but I knew I was impressed with myself. At the sound of the door closing and locking up tight with a hiss and other mechanical noises, I readied myself at the door going inside the structure, not knowing what might be next.

* * *

Part 4 - Skeleton Crew

"All clear!" Emile called out, followed by my quiet sigh of relief to the truth of the statement. But I quickly realized that breaks are short in this team.

"We need to find the control room." He said reloading his weapon From there, Kat can get the relay back online. Emile, post here. If we flush any hostiles, they're yours. All right, let's do this."

We approached a very dark room whose only light source was a red fluorescent light.

"Yeah, spooky doesn't describe the atmosphere of this room at all…" I sarcastically said in a hushed voice. To my right was a door that appeared to be locked. I was curious as to what was behind it but I remembered what happened back with the troopers and was wise to keep my mouth shut.

"Can't see a thing. Noble Six, turn on your night vision." I followed Carter's command.

"Control room. Go easy." Warned Kat as we neared the end of the corridor. When we turned it, there was a body lying on the ground. Everyone lowered their weapons. "Noble Six, search that body."

As I began to search the body, Kat stepped over it to investigate the controls. Carter noticed a wounded trooper in the corner.

"Where's the rest of your unit?" He asked the trooper.

"We got split. I don't think they…it sounded bad on the comms."

"All right, Corporal, stay put. We'll get you a combat surgeon."

As he consoled the trooper, I mourned the body I was searching for a moment, then I turned him over and I found a data module.

"Damn!" Kat said looking at the controls as I watched her briefly. "Plasma damage."

"Found something," I said to Kat.

"I'll take that Six, not your domain." She said snatching it out of my hands and observing it for a moment. Rising to my feet, I looked over to Jorge.

"I've got a live one over here." He said. "Come on, out you come." Jorge continued softly. The girl refused to stop hitting Jorge, though her attempts were all but futile. The way Jorge moved his head from side to side as she struggled read confusion of why she would be reacting this way. Eventually, he told her; "It's alright, we're not going to hurt you." As she persistently wrestled her way out of Jorge's grip, saying things in Hungarian, Carter wasn't sure Jorge was handling it properly.

"Jorge…"

"I've got her." He put down his weapon and held firmly on the girl's shoulders. "Keep still and I'll release you." She stopped struggling and spoke with both fear and caution.

"Még...Itt vannak." _(They are still here…)_

Just then, an Elite with a sword dropped down from nowhere in front of the two, about to attack. Jorge stiffened and he narrowly escaped the creature's swing of the weapon as he covered the girl. The Elite looked and growled at us, as if challenging us to a duel. Two more of his buddies joined in, dropping in from nowhere.

"What's your status over?"

_"You're a little late, Emile…"_

"We've been engaged!" Said Carter.

Kat was about to be cut down by the Elite until Carter pushed her out of the way. While I'm maintaining fire, I'm thinking,

_"Are you seriously gonna just stand there, Kat?"_

Taking down its shield, it came after me. Though my goal WAS to distract it, I'd never imagine I'd be a target at this moment. He knocked me down as he ran out the door.

"You call yourself an Elite? You run away like a coward!"

"Bad guy coming out!" Carter yelled.

Another Zealot grabbed me by the neck, extending its energy dagger, ready to stab me in the cranium no doubt.

I looked at him as he held me in the air, above him, making himself seem more superior and intimidating, not only to frighten me, but piss me off.

"Stab me, I dare you." He went to do so and I smacked him, right in the mandibles. He roared in my face, obviously unfazed.

"Split lip, you need to see the dentist…ASAP…" I chuckled, even through being held by the neck. Once again, he is determined to stab me. Luckily for me, Carter kicked him off me.

_"Bout time…"_

Kat opened fire on the Elite that attacked me, draining its shields. On the ground, I searched for a weapon. Carter kicked an assault rifle over to me. It occurred to me that the Elite slinked away, craving cover like the weakling that he is. The two Elites head for another door, probably trying to catch us off guard, carrying both the girl and the Corporal, using them as shields. We held our fire so that we may not accidentally shoot them. The civilian girl screamed her head off as the cry of the corporal fades into his death. I looked away for a moment, grieving his death.

"We did what we could, Lieutenant."

"That tango blew past me, permission to pursue?"

"Negative four, stay on the entrance. Two, handle her. Five and Six, clear the hole."

Noticing the clip of my weapon, I reloaded it as we headed into the room. Jorge shut and sealed the room off.

Jorge then threw a flare into the next room in an attempt to draw out the apparent hiding Covvies. The Zealot hiding behind a box threw his arm up in reaction to this. He began to fire his concussion rifle at us both. I zig-zagged through the line of fire, eliminating the Grunts and Jackals in my path. Jorge fired occasionally, generously allowing me kills. Once we cleared the room, the Zealot retreated down the nearby corridor.

"What's the matter, Zealot? You a cannon fodder like your Grunt pals I just took down? I even assassinated one for ya!"

As we continued on, mopping up the remaining enemies, I earned two more Grunt assassinations.

"There's more. Flush 'em out, I've got you covered." With that, every Grunt but one died with a bullet in their brains. In the next room, I found a shotgun in an indent as I jumped down. I traded the drop shield for sprint and used it against the Zealot with the concussion rifle. As the Zealot with the sword charged at me, I thought I would have some cover from the shield but it depleted, which startled me. The Zealot badly damaged my shields and almost ended up with sword in my gut, however, Jorge saved my ass. As it was distracted, I hid behind the wall, letting my shields replenish. I crouched turning the corner with my shotgun ready to blow the Elite to smithereens. I waited for about two minutes before Jorge put his hand on my shoulder, startling me in the process, who told me that,

"The Elite's hiding and awaiting to strike, I see its back turned. It won't notice you from behind if you're quiet. Go leave the coward with a good-bye present." He said about to hand me a plasma grenade. Hesitating for a moment, he recoiled with a slight chuckle. "Or better yet, throw it a surprise party," He said pointing to my knife. " Nodding in agreement, I crouched slowly going towards him. As I neared the small room, there he was, crouching, not paying attention to what's behind him.

"What a fool." I end his life with a stab to the neck. "Goodnight and sweet nightmares, foul creature." I looked at the dead bodies around me for a moment, then Jorge snapped me back to the mission.

"Noble Five reporting. Contacts neutralized."

"Kat needs you to reset a junction. Do it and get back up here." Carter ordered. I reset it and went back into the other room with Jorge.

Dissecting the machinery now, Kat prepared to work on the controls.

"How long?" Carter asked, tilting his head to the side as Kat put down the piece of machinery.

"Question of my life…" She said, picking up something. I couldn't see from the angle I stood at. "If the question is when will this station be back online, two weeks, earliest." Carter leaned in, as if he's_ very_ interested… "This is plasma damage. All major uplink components are fried." Kat explained. Already working on the controls.

"Two minutes is too long." Carter pointed out.

"Which is why I'm splicing into the main overland bundle to get you a direct line to Colonel Holland…" She answered with a snippy attitude. "You're in my light, Commander." Carter backed away turning to Jorge.

"Find out what she knows." Jorge knelt in front of the girl and tapped her shoulder but she shoved him off. Emile chuckled. I tilted my head to the side slightly, curious and moderately confused.

_"What's so funny?"_

"What's your name? Do you live around here?" Jorge took his helmet off; probably trying to get her to humanly sympathize by looking into his eyes. She does at first but looks back to the ground. "A nevem Jorge. _(bMy name's Jorge./b)_

"Sára."

"Sára...szép határozott név. _(...pretty definite name.)_ Your accent sounds familiar. Sopron?"

"Tengari."

Jorge looke at the body.

"Friend of yours?"

"Father," She said with a sad look on her face.

"Sajnálom. I'm sorry."

"Why would you be?" She said staring hard into his eyes.

_"This recent death has disabled her to feel compassion from another human being…I know Jorge still feels sorry regardless of how she takes it, though."_

"Big man forgets what he is sometimes." Emile told, blocking anymore thoughts. I looked at him as he said that.

_"Is the poor girl blind? Am I the only one who sees the compassion he has? Despite the lack of feelings Spartans must have? Even so, Emile…we are still human on the inside."_

As if Jorge was a bigger feline than Emile, he 'raised the fur of his back up' and coldly replied, "She just lost her father." Forcing Emile to back up a little until Jorge receded from his personal space. "She needs a full psychiatric workup." Jorge said to Carter.

"She's not the only one," Emile sharply retaliated to Jorge's feather-ruffled attitude. Emile did not look in his eyes when he said it; as if he is too chicken to.

_"Sheesh, Emile. Heartless much, my good friend?"_

"Lock it down, both of you!" The watchful eye said, stripping apart an argument before it could even begin. And he stripped it to pieces, no doubt. Jorge must've definitely regretted that long death glare he made to Emile. Although, we know that there might have been a lasting smirk of victory in the war of words behind that skull helmet.

"Get her on her feet…the body stays here."

"Thank you, Sir." Said Jorge in gratitude. Though he possibly regretted the stare he gave to Emile before, the one that he gave to Emile as he walked by him, rubbing shoulders, I could tell he meant in that silent moment. He went to help Sára up.

"Signal. It's patchy, but it's there." Said Kat, finally done with the controls.

"I'll take it." Carter replied taking of his helmet.

"Best not touch anything. You wouldn't want to ground this place." Carter watched us leave the room before Holland came through.

"... I'm barely getting you. What's your situation, over?"

"Colonel, this is Noble One. There are no rebels. The Covenant are on Reach. Acknowledge?"

"Come again, Noble One? Did you say _Covenant_?"

"Affirmative. It's the WINTER CONTINGENCY."

There was a brief pause.

"May God help us all."

* * *

**I hope none of you saw this as redundant at all. Or annoying if she seems like a lowly self-insert. I'm slowly trying to build a character out of Tyra; that is the reason why I put what I'd say in her voice. I do not think this counts as OOC since Six doesn't have a real definite personality other than lone wolf. Which is funny, I don't do well with teams...I prefer solo yet not free for all lol isn't that interesting? I'm pretty much the person who tries to defend the team but says hardly a word - cept to myself xD I am open to any suggestions about her personality, however. Thanks for reading!**

**Next Time: Six goes and does some pretty interesting things, sees Jun inside Sword Base, and meets Halsey.**


	3. ONI: Sword Base

**This was an interesting chapter; though the next chapter will be most certainly my favorite! In fact, Long Night of Solace/Corvette coupled with Nightfall are my favorite levels! I hope you enjoy this edition of TSoN6.**

* * *

**Part 1: Eposz**

July 26, 2552, 11:26 Hours. Yet again riding in a Falcon alongside another, we are on our way toward the coast. Noble two slipped a chip into her data pad and typed something. I was curious as to what she was doing but did not bother to ask. Noble Five looked uneasy but there was no way to be sure. I only assumed this by the way he moved his foot and looked outside of the Falcon. Noticing icebergs nearby, a conversation began to brew, from Sword Control.

"Be advised, kilo-three-three and kilo-three-four, your current LZ is too hot!"

"Roger that," Replied Carter. "Dot, standby to receive and respond."

_"Wait…who?"_

We passed large island just before a large Covenant ship, probably holding position, came into view.

"Yes Commander…coordinates received"

_"Oh…an AI."_

"Initiate immediate course correction. The Office of Naval Intelligence Sword Base is presently under siege from a corvette-class Covenant vessel. Due to the sensitive nature of this facility, use of orbital rounds has been, for the moment, prohibited. Regrettably, my efforts to obtain relevant data on enemy forces have been unsuccessful. However, current defensive forces are insufficient. ONI has requested Team Noble's direct intervention to help secure Sword Base."

"Alright people, we're stuck with that ship for the time being. Let's focus on the hostile infantry - give those Troopers a hand."

Flying above the troopers and Covvie ground forces, a trooper was being shot at by a Jackal. Carter ordered Kat and I to defend the troopers.

Seeing that poor trooper got me fired up to defend him and his group but it also had me a little worried about Jun and where he was.

"Jorge, Emile - you're next. Get prepped." Noble Two cocked her pistol. The sound pulled me back into the fight with little effort. I was prepared for this. There would be no distractions this time - not much, anyway.

"Let's move lieutenant." Kat said to me as the Falcon lowered to the ground. We both jumped out.

_"This is gonna be one hell of a mess to clean up after we're done with them."_

* * *

**Part 2: The Best Defense…**

I cocked and loaded my DMR, closely watching Kat for any instructions.

"Kat, Six: push back the attack on Sword Base, find out what we're dealing with." Carter told us.

"Roger that. We're your strike team." Kat said back.

As she said this, an Elite major up ahead challenged me to a duel. I went up the ramp, he began to back up a little, then rushed towards me. With one bullet of my DMR, part of his shields came down; I then angered him with a melee to take his shields down fully. After which I socked him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Spartans, hostiles north." Sword Control said in our ears. To my left, I heard crazed screaming, coming from the Grunts. I turned right around, knowing at least one would be coming straight for me with two plasmas. I reloaded my DMR, out of habit, and noticed the suicidal Grunt running up the ramp.

"Let's knock some heads, lieutenant!" I hesitated a couple poor DMR shots but eventually took him out with a headshot.

Before going back down the ramp, I let the grenades explode. I helped a couple troopers with two Grunts who were thankful, saying, "Excellent work!". I traveled to the adjacent ramp, connected to a bridge, and again, in our ears, "You've got three new contacts, Spartans."

Near a sealed door now, I noticed some ammo by a fallen trooper. I took it and carried on. Two jackals were being menaces to the troopers; I took care of them somewhat carelessly. I couldn't get a proper shot on one and the other annoyed me so as I took out his shield and he tried to ran away but I assassinated him. I finally got a clear shot of him while performing a jump after narrowly avoiding his plasma fire. I shot down another Jackal at the end of the short ramp ahead. The courtyard was filled with Elites. The highest ranking one carried a Concussion Rifle; definitely not one to take care of up close. My best bet would be throwing a frag if they all formed in one group, but that would not be likely here. They are too smart for that and they move too fast.

Being shot at somewhat, I crouched and hid behind the railing, carefully calculating my next move.

_"So many of them! I can't just hit them hard. I have to go slow on this one. Man, I hate taking fights slow…"_

Taking a breath, I rose up, shot a Jackal in the notch of his shield, without realizing how incredibly accurate that shot was. I attempted this again with another Jackal near the last but only injured him. A Jackal was slowly creeping up the ramp trying to scare me no doubt. I focused on him, knowing that he would only pester me with his needler if I targeted other contacts.

"You don't scare me, ugly."

He responded with sending needles flying my way and some chittering noises. The fire actually caught me off guard slightly; my shields were going down and almost to yellow. I wasn't moving as fast I should've been because of how slow I have to take this if we want to clear the courtyard with little to no injuries. Having no success with this Jackal, I backed up to get away from the meddler. Then I gasped softly.

"Another Jackal? That one didn't even show up on my radar! He truly startled me!" I didn't panic too much, knowing that I could take them. They were just…annoying. Annoying as flies. I reloaded my weapon, jumping away in case they fired; which they stopped for some reason. Then I noticed an Elite Minor follow behind the Jackal I had trouble with first.

"_I could just throw a frag…"_ I shook my head. _"Time for plan B."_ I switched to my Assault Rifle and hid behind one of the ONI barriers to allow my shields to replenish before going yellow and then to red before I could blink. I heard gunfire behind me.

"Engaging!" Said one of the troopers. I had been so caught up in the mild irritation that I neglected to actually think of the troopers. I was about to go straight head on into the group until the Elite, who I lost track of, did what I was afraid of. My shields read yellow. And if I didn't move fast, they'd go red. So I moved to the barrier near the entrance to one of the structures and gritted my teeth

_"I'm acting like a child. This is not some game! I'm bred for combat, built for war. What's holding me back?"_ An image of Jun's face appeared in my mind. I shook my head and sighed exasperatedly; _"Not now. Time to clear the area."_

I took out my DMR and went full on into the group. I smoothly put two bullets into the two Jackals. I reloaded my gun.

_"Alright, there we go. Keep it up, Tyra."_

Moving back down the short ramp, I struggled to get a clear headshot of the Grunt running for his life.

_"Dammit, stop it! Pull yourself together…" I_ growled with extreme infuriation. I would NOT show signs of weakness, struggle, or poor skills. I would advance, no matter how difficult the batch of Covvies were that entered my path. The high ranking Elite targeted me with his Concussion Rifle. My shields got taken out by one of his shots. It bruised my helmet slightly.

_"Ugh, now I know why they call it a Concussion Rifle…"_

He kept firing but I swerved to my left. Luckily, Kat took his attention and meleed him, causing him to be pushed with such force that he was propelled several feet backwards. He threw his arms in anger.

_"He didn't seem to like that."_

As she hid behind the barrier in front of her, Kat motioned me to move forward. I didn't hesitate to do so. I came down the ramp and entered the courtyard. I took out the shieldless Elite with one bullet to the head.

"That's how its done in Noble team!" I shouted, making a victorious fist.

I backed up while changing mags, ready to fire upon the second to last Elite in the area. I had two clear shots to his head until he went behind the barrier next to him.

"What's wrong? You scared?" I chuckled, taunting the fool.

He growled at me and swerved left and right repeatedly, barely showing himself behind the barrier. Kat fired upon him when he eventually showed himself, then went back behind the barrier once more. I threw a frag but he not only avoided it, it missed completely.

_"Damn…"_

I followed him in a game of ring around the rosy, but I swear to you that he vanished, while I was distracted my shields were depleting by that same Elite! I didn't see him go the other direction of where I attempted to chase him down. At yellow shields now, I hesitated and took a Grunt down. Luckily, that Elite was a Minor and a quick melee killed him. I inhaled and exhaled.

_"Thank God for shields."_

Heading down a ramp, I saw a Jackal fall. I ignored it and tried to catch my own kill. I easily made up for it. Interestingly enough, trying to kill the Elite ahead managed to injure a Skirmisher! Smirking, I socked the Elite in the face. A Skirmisher body rolled on the ground.

_"Again?!"_

I injured a Major and put a bullet to his head,

_"Now we're even again, Kat."_

I stayed clear of the noisy explosive in front of my face. I had almost moved it aside. The last Skirmisher failed to take down my shields to yellow.

_"Whew…that was fun." _I looked behind me. _"Yep, just what I thought. We mopped 'em up and now the Covvies have a mess to deal with!" _I chuckled and smirked.

Kat came up behind me.

"Were you a bit hesitant back there, Six?"

"Eh…just a little. Not exactly used to Covenant invading, you know." She tittered in response.

"Get used to it. That's gonna be the reality until we clear them all out of this planet. Try to stay focused, okay?"

"Yes, Kat."

"Noble Two to Sword Control, the Courtyard is clear, over."

"Head to the main gate to the East, I'll brief you as you go."

"Sword Control, I see a Target Locator, any artillery support in the area?"

"Limited, but we'll prioritize whatever you need, ma'am."

Picking up the Target Locator, I was attentive to kill properly now.

_"Alright, let's see how this thing works."_

* * *

**Part 3: Get the Hell Off My Lawn!**

As the main gate opened, I saw a Covenant Corvette attacking the base. I gritted my teeth,

_"They will pay for what they did to my father many years ago…"_

I saw a damaged Warthog zig-zagging up ahead.

"3 Echo 57 heading back to base, but we got enemy tangos on our six. How copy?" Soon, the poor Warthog was destroyed by one of the Wraiths. Hiding from both Wraiths behind a rock nearby, I kept seeing flashbacks of my father in a similar situation where he was in a tank, desperately trying eliminate other Wraiths but there were too many…luckily, he made it out alive but was in a coma for several years.

"Fire that Target Locator on those Wraiths!" As soon as Kat said this, I realized what this weapon was. I used it against both of them and waited for the missiles to fall from the sky. While doing so, I switched to my DMR, ridding of the pests in front of me. I took down the Elite Minor and the Grunts gave themselves an easy death as all three cowardly ran for their lives.

"Outstanding!" Kat replied trying to help take down the last Grunt. Watching the Pelican fly towards us, I moved out of it's LZ. Knowing that I would have to drive, I hopped into the driver's seat and nodded to the trooper already in the side seat. Kat hopped the gun.

"The old Farragut Station has its own comms array that should bring us back online with command. Airview base has an anti-air battery that will help clear the skies." Notified Sword Base.

"AA gun is to the west, comms array to the east. Let's roll." Kat ordered from the gun.

I wanted to take down whatever was closest, so I headed east.

"Good call, let's take comms first."

Near the ocean, I splattered a Grunt, letting Kat shoot down the remaining ones in the area, including the Ghost, before reaching our destination.

Treading across the snow, we made our way to the station.

"Hope that comms array has a working generator." Kat reported.

I took note of the Covenant forces as well as the Revenant.

"Yeah, yeah, YEAH!" The trooper exclaimed shooting at the Revenant. "Uh oh, Revenant inbound." He finished as the vehicle fired at us. Circling near a small rock, Kat inputted that we had to search for the generator switch. Like a vulture, I orbited the buildings as to not get too close to the Revenant; allowing it to follow me at its own pace to eventually get shot down by the gunner. Along the path I took, I splattered a Grunt who was injured by the gunner. I did this twice before deciding to confront the Revenant. Luckily, my tactic worked and as the Revenant was deteriorating, a few bullets caused it to explode.

"Revenant down!" I called out.

My attempt to splatter the Elite Officer near my first target failed but Kat made sure it would not get up once she took it down. Parking by the door near my target, I let the other two take care of the Grunt and the Elite Minor outside. I activated the first switch. Behind me a Grunt fired his needler. As I turned around to take care of him, another Minor threw his fist at me.

"You wanna play? I'll play." As I sent a few bullets towards his face, his shields were depleting - and he knew it. Spinelessly, he backed up, turned his back on me and just stop firing all together, allowing me to take him out without a problem. "He, obviously, didn't live up to his threat he gave me."

"Okay, generator up and running. Find that comms array, should be up high." Kat said from the passenger seat of the warthog. A Grunt wasn't impressed with his leader dead so he decided to fire at and curse at me in his native tongue. So I shot him in the head.

"This is getting easier than I thought…" As soon as I said this, a suicidal Grunt surprised me and took down my shields within a split second. At one red bar, I hurried into the building, sitting down. I could hear my heartbeat racing.

"Me and my big mouth…"

"Get that comms array up and running!" I grunted, not wanting to move. I used the health pack I noticed on the wall to secure any seeping wounds that would further exasperate my performance. Grabbing my DMR, I headed to the second building. Though I only used one bullet, I still reloaded, just in case. I meleed a couple Grunts within the first building. Then I took care of the Jackal Snipers just ahead, behind the box. One of them did get me, but I shook it off. Getting into the Hog and trying to splatter some Skrimishers near the second building was unsuccessful but it at least bought me time to move forward into the second building. Walking up the wooden steps, I could hear the gunner shooting at the Skirmishers, shouting "More where that came from!". Afterward, Kat escaped the Hog from an Elite's plasma grenade throw which ultimate killed the Hog. Kat withdrew from the fiery vehicle.

Moving onto the second flight of wooden stairs, a couple Grunts attempted to move up to defend the Comms Array, but they did not make it very far. On the second floor were two lowly Major Skirmishers. One made a croaky sound as I approached them. With a punch to each, they both went down without much of a fight. Moving up the third staircase now, a third Skirmisher, who most likely jumped from below, tried to distract me. Well, he sure succeeded. But the Minor went down with the bullet to the head. On the very top floor, I jumped over some boxes and came to the Comms array at last. Activating it, I noticed a dead soldier in the hay to my left. I knelt down to turn him over.

"Hope they killed you without much pain; that you died honorably, soldier."

"You did it, Six; Comms Array up and running." I jumped off the second to the top floor and landed near Kat. "Now let's head for Airview Base and get that AA gun online."

"Spartans, this is Sword Control. Thought you could use some mobile firepower."

"Always. Take that Hog, Six." The three of us headed towards the new vehicle. As we mounted up, I immediately shifted the gas to full power. We went on our way towards the Base. Near paths that forrmed into a V, I noticed a Spirit Dropship coming our way.

"Spirit inbound!" I instinctively called out as we easily took care of the few Elites it threw at us. From behind, a Ghost fired vehemently towards our direction. With some shots by the trooper and a ram into it, the Grunt fell dead. Then popped up a second Ghost, which the gunner took care of himself. Following the path into the Base now, I could see the ever ominous Corvette looming over Sword Base like a storming cloud ready to strike with lightning bolts.

"I'm picking up a power source, we're close to the AA Gun." Said Kat. The trooper cheered as I picked up some air before landing on the ground at a small jump. He immediately opened fire against some Elites attempting to take hold of an abandoned Warthog turret. If they get to it, we're screwed. I decide to hop out and throw a grenade after the gunner takes one Elite out so that the other who decides to take his brother's place will be kicked off his mounted gun. I apparently missed because as I decided to use the Target Locator on the Phantom some yards away, I heard an Elite fall behind me. Watching to make sure the Phantom went down, some Grunts were becoming pests. So I decided to make myself one back. I took out a Grunt and the other two fled. But I shot one of the them in the head. Making sure that the abandoned Hog will not be used by the enemy, I throw another grenade to cause it to turn upside down.

Moving into the building, I meleed two Grunts and assassinated another. I retrieved ammo from the wall. I tried one last time to take down the Phantom with the Target Locator. But, yet again, my attempt all but prevailed. The fool of an Elite with the Concussion Rifle at the top level didn't look behind him and I snuck up behind him and snapped his neck. I was about to activate the AA Gun when I noticed Kat under attack.

"Get them off my back!" I beat down two of the Rangers behind her as she stood in the gunner seat. I was on my way to kill the Grunt near the rock by the abandoned Hog when a Ghost fired at me. I lured it close to me then threw a plasma at its hood, backing up a little. Luckily it didn't come to close to me or more of my shields would have been taken down. Another Ghost behind a larger rock came close to splattering me before I shot the Grunt off his seat without his methane tank attached to him. Kat took care of the last Grunt. I went back up to activate the AA Gun.

As I activated it, I groaned disappointed at how easily it took down the Phantom I tried to eliminate.

"That did it, Six. AA Gun is online."

"Noble Strike, this is Noble Leader. Get back to Sword Base, ASAP."

"On our way, Commander. Six, Let's go."

"Good work, Spartans. Return to Sword Base, the rest of your team is inbound, imminent."

"Noble, be advised: Covenant Corvette moving into position. Kat, Six, get here quick. We'll meet you inside."

I headed towards the Warthog Sword Control left for us, as it had a better gun and our other one was greatly damaged.

"I've got the gun."

The trooper took the steering wheel and we were off; for some reason Kat decided she wanted to go on foot. We made our way through a path, encountering a Ghost in our way. I took him out with one shot; after a first shot as a near-miss. A lone on-foot Grunt nearby was no match for my Gauss Cannon! Seeing him fall flat on his ugly face put a smile on mine.

_"This is one of my specialties."_

I took down the Elite who growled at us. I laughed at his futile endeavor. And then I became cautious at the Trooper's words: "Revenant rollin'!" I knew that this one would be just as much dangerous as the one we faced before. As the trooper struggled to find a way around the beaten path, I counteracted the Revenant that fired against our vehicle. Luckily, his attack came close to us but didn't harm us or the Hog. I didn't even notice until now but Kat had snuck up when neither the trooper nor I were looking and snagged the passenger seat!

"Glad you could join us." She nodded at my remark, knowing I was only being sarcastic. The second Revenant was proving to be a nuisance, so I took it out with the Gauss. The orange Elite in front of the huge rock behind us fired, also. I kept my eye on that location, making sure there were no stragglers in the area. The Trooper parked in front of the gate. I got out to open it. And then a familiar voice came on the comms.

"We're stalled at the Tower Atrium. Kat, where are you?" It was Jun.

"Opening the gate now!" Knowing that there would be Covenant once again occupying the Courtyard, I asked the Trooper to drive me in front of the barriers so I could more effectively take care of them. It was certainly more efficient - all but two Elites and a Grunt were out of range. As I got out of the gunner and we moved up though the courtyard, I noticed what looked like a fleet of Banshees in the sky, swirling around like falling leaves. In the main entrance to the Base, some Troopers were being attacked by Covvies and a pair of Hunters.

I noticed some shotguns, took one and some ammo; following the trooper and Kat near a barrier or what appears to be a parking place for vehicles. The troopers were hiding dangerously close to it; enough to be killed or injured from a blast of the Hunters' weapons. I quickly hid behind the barrier, keep some distance between me and the barrier. As Kat was being attacked, I threw a grenade behind one of the Hunters. I did this again to lure it away from Kat. The other Hunter fired his cannon towards my general direction but I was thankful for the barrier protecting me. This time, I threw a plasma at the one I was targeting, It tried to protect itself instead of moving all together; which was an imprudent mistake. Of course, standing too close to the barrier, forgetting the blast radius injuries caused my shields to go down some; which made me just as imprudent. One of the troopers got injured, as well. The pole in front of me blocked the attack of the Hunter.

Kat also hid behind the barrier, crouching trying not to be seen. But unfortunately, the Hunter's blast took some of her shields.

"This one seems to like me. Someone kill it!"

I was going to send some bullets over to it but it took part of my shields. Hiding behind one of the huge crates, I waited for the precise moment to attack. I came out of hiding, having plenty of distance from the barrier. I looked at the one Hunter and the other, back and forth. They both would easily attack at the same time. i "Without seriously taking a risk, how could I get past them without being flung across the room?" /i

I was indecisive; I went one direction to attack one but it was too risky and the other direction was equally suicidal. And then I looked to my right - Kat was being physically assaulted by one of the monsters. "Now's the moment." I forgot about how risky it was going up close but one of my own were being attacked. I could not let up. I waited for times when it had its back turned to shoot or melee it. I narrowly avoided the arm swing it gave. I stayed behind the narrow part of the barrier in front of me; playing a another mere game of ring around the rosy. It once again swung at me when it got close on one side but I was fast - I went the to other side. I came around it and shot it in the back. I knew it felt the blood that I saw come out of its wormy back. Before I gave it a chance to turn around, I had the last stand with the melee to the back.

Targeting a Grunt near the elevator room, Kat said; "I don't plan on making this quick or painless!" She barely escaped the blast of the other Hunter. I had one bullet left in the clip of my shotgun so I reloaded it. I was not feeling at all indecisive now. I jumped over the barrier, as if it was a hurdle, and threw a grenade at the Hunter. I chuckled at the sight of it injured and groaning in pain. It shot at me, but because I was moving too fast for it to shoot precisely, it shot near me, taking out my shields partially - and I was unfazed. This happened a second time. Then it charged at me but I continued to back up in a circular motion. And it missed with its swing, hitting the crate instead. Two shotgun shells took it down easily.

I shot the head of the remaining Grunt and bashed the Elite. "We have to get to the atrium; we have to go through the security office." A suicidal Grunt crept up when we both least expected it but was easy to rid of.

"Elevator, Lieutenant; take it." I went inside and started the elevator. Midway up, an explosion rocked the elevator.

"Corvette's hitting this base hard." Emile alleged.

"Where's our orbital support? Got to be four platforms that could take it out with a single MAC round." Replied Kat. As the elevator opened, I had realized one thing;

_"I haven't used my armor lock yet!"_

* * *

**Part 4: Office of Naval Intelligence**

As the door swiped open, I felt oddly at home within Sword Base.

"WELCOME TO THE OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. AN ONI REPRESENTATIVE WILL MEET YOU SHORTLY." It was the Sword Base Automated PA.

"I doubt that i_very much /i" _Kat sarcastically replied. I chuckled to myself at her remark.

Inside the Security Office, an Elite and three Grunts were up ahead. I aimed my DMR straight for the Elite's head. He backed up long enough to bring his shields up slightly and piss me off. As I was fighting the bastard who shifted to the side, the PA came on again.

"THANK YOU, LIEUTENANT. YOU HAVE BEEN CLEARED FOR ACCESS."

_"It knows me?"_

I threw my elbow into his gut and down he went. The Grunts not surprisingly began to run away spinelessly. After I broke the neck of one, I beat down the other two within a second.

"All targets, neutralized, confirm?" Kat asked me.

"Affirmative." I responded back.

The door leading into a multi-level roomed opened up and I noticed Jorge, Jun, and one trooper fighting an Elite and some Jackals.

"…or maybe not." Kat looked at me. I'm guessing the look on her face would have been saying, "No, you think?"

I could hear Jun and Jorge speaking as the door opened.

"Closing in on the target!" Jun exclaimed. Jorge was too quiet for me to hear exactly what he said.

"We've got company!" The trooper said.

I walked in and a flood of memories came pouring back. Unless I'm not mistaken, this room was where I was first trained.

"Taking rounds!" Jorge's call for assistance clicked me back into the fight. I immediately threw a grenade and the plasma stuck to the Jackal closest to me. The Jackal was startled by this motion but it was too late to react. The blast killed the other Jackal near him.

_"Two for one, excellent." _I thought.

"Six, head upstairs and assist Emile. Jorge, make sure she gets there." I scoffed softly as I went for the last Jackal.

_"Not that I don't appreciate the big guy, but do I really need escorting?"_

I killed the Jackal with two DMR shots before Jorge said,

"Depend on it."

With very little shields going down on my armor, I took out the Elite with some bullet to the waist and a punch to the face. It was then I realized Kat also went for the kill. I looked at her, trying to think of something to say but could not.

"Perhaps you were a little faster than me, Six." I nodded at her respectfully then turned around and noticed Jun walking up the ramp. I followed suit into the room on the right. "All clear, here, Six." A Trooper told me. So I went up into room above where several Grunts decided to show up at the wrong time. One died with a bullet in its head. Another beat down. I looked around for any others; saw none, reloaded, and moved on. In a quick succession, two more up ahead died with a fractured skull. I snickered and reloaded again. "Six! Can I have a second?" Jun said, from behind, calling me over.

_"What could he want?"_

I looked at Kat as I hurried down the ramp.

"Make it quick." She said to me as I neared Jun. He was perched by the edge of the ramp, with his rifle over the railing, ready to fire at any ambushing fool walking down the ramp. Though, not wanting to risk too much damage, he ducked and looked up every so often.

"Six," Jun said, slightly looking at me as he was about his business. "The base is probably gonna fall like Jericho, so be careful." After which he reloaded his rifle and nodded at me.

"Come on Six, let's move!" Kat ordered. I nodded at Jun before joining Kat.

Reaching into the depths of the second floor, an Elite was causing trouble in the corridor. He was blinded by a handful of bullets into this eyes and cranium, good ole' DMR. As it was in the elevator, a light flickered within the base.

"Corvette's gonna rip this base apart. What's the situation, Noble?" inquired Sword Control.

"Can't do this on my own! Need another Spartan up here!" Emile sounded agitated.  
"Six, get to the top floor and assist Emile."

_"Acknowledged but…do I need to be told the same order twice?"_

Up the ramp leading into the third floor were an Elite and two Jackals. The Jackals weren't even looking my direction so they were too foolish to see the bullets whizzing for their brains. The Elite at least reacted; but he, too, fell with splattered brains. Walking across the red carpeted room, another ramp led to the fourth floor. I brought out a weapon I hadn't used in a while;

_"I have a shotgun and I'm not afraid to use it."_

I encountered a couple Jackals, several Grunts, and an Elite. I threw a plasma a the Jackals that shouldn't have been so close to each other. Unfortunately, neither one leapt out of the way nor did all three die. So I threw another. It, too, failed. I sighed angrily. I brutally attacked the Elite with some shotgun shells and two punches. A Grunt nearby was sounding crazy.

_"Aw crap…"_ I waited for it to come to me and as soon as I went for the Jackals, coming out of the entry way to my left, a Kamikaze Grunt headed straight for me. Luckily, I backed up before shooting my shotgun and went further for the grenades to detonate.

"Keep tearing them up!" A trooper nearby shouted.

I killed a Jackal and turned, hearing two frightened Grunts coming out of the room to the left. I beat down both of them before they could go anywhere. One trooper with an assault rifle took my kill but I shrugged it off. Dealing with the remaining Jackals and Grunt that were in the next area being the fifth floor, I took some shotgun ammo from the wall.

"Commander, this base won't survive another salvo from that corvette. Kill those Banshees!" Sword Control said through the comm.

"Upstairs, Lieutenant, we need those Longswords in the air." Commander told me. A Grunt and a Jackal snuck in from the smaller ramp within the room. A trooper killed one, saying, "I bet you felt that one, huh?"

A white-armored Minor Elite was standing guard, pestering the troopers below and the adjacent balcony. It killed one near me and that set me off. I thought I would help the other out despite the fact that he was retreating.. This Elite was an easy target with a grenade tstick…so I thought. He didn't even budge! I was bewildered! He threw his arm at me, taking down my shields fast. With two punches, he finally went down.

_"What rank were you?"_ I asked myself about the Elite as I moved back up the normal route, letting my shields return to normal..

I could hear Banshees flying about outside. I'd love to get my hands on a sniper and take them down; but I knew that wouldn't happen. The Field Marshall waiting by the balcony shooting at the troopers below wasn't paying attention. I slew him with an knife to the throat. He was just like his cowardly Zealot friend back at the control room. I grinned after killing him,

"The Unicorn is dead, heh heh!" I reloaded and moved into the room where two Jackals were. A gaping hole in the wall revealed the Corvette holding position, the Banshees I heard, and an inbound Phantom.

"About time." Emile said rather annoyed. The Phantom dropped of some Spec Ops. Though I knew I could take them out, they were still a pain. "Noble Six, Watch down low." Emile said as I picked up a Rocket Launcher from the ground. After eliminating all the cloaked Elites, I fired upon the Phantom attacking Emile. I locked on and waited to see how close the rocket came to it. Centered but no real damage. I reloaded and tried again. Second time resulted likewise. Third time's the charm. As I reloaded one last time, I smirked.

"Told ya." The explosion of the Phantom was extravagant. A real work of art.

"That's the way we get it done, Spartan." Emile seemed to like my artwork, also.

"Noble Team, Longswords are inbound and ready to push. Orbital defense is standing by to take the shot." Sword Control said with a notable sigh of relief in his voice tone.

Two Longswords flew towards the corvette, which was attempting to flee. I watched as the Longswords followed the corvette for a distance, but they soon broke off. A MAC round suddenly penetrated the corvette from above. Its engines flickered, and it loses altitude. Jorge emerged from the shadows, approaching me.

"Beautiful, ain't it?" He says coming into the light.

_"No…I'd say it is gorgeous."_

"Someone should take a picture." He finished. I nodded agreeing. The corvette crashed into the lake.

"Nice work, by the way." He said putting his arm on my shoulder.

"I aim to please." I responded. As we looked out into the lake, glistening now in our favor, I wanted this moment to last forever.

"Five, Six, get down to the science wing." Carter broke the peace I had felt.

Jorge cocked his head, listening closely.

_"Seriously? When I was just getting comfortable…"_

"Doctor Halsey wants a debrief-"

As he was saying this, Jorge then turned around in slight shock.

"-and command's saying we're all hers."

"Repeat? Sounded like you said Halsey." I turned towards him, curious of what was going on.

"I did."

"Copy that, on our way." As we walked towards the wing, he told me that he didn't need command to tell him because he's been all hers half his life.

We approached the room that was to be the Science Wing. Carter is talking to a woman behind a shield door, who I assume is Halsey. Kat watched us walk in.

"I requested your assistance, Commander, and do not need a report on events that occur on my own doorstep. What I i_do/i_ require is a detailed account of your previous engagement—" Halsey paused mid sentence and notices Jorge walk in. "Jorge, it's been too long."

"Ma'am."

She lowered her eyebrows and sternly replied,

"What have you down with my armor?"

"Just some…additions I've made."

"Indeed…" I looked to the floor.

"iI've heard of this woman and how she is a lot like a mother figure…but has she always got her attitude level all the way up to bitchy? /i"

"Visegrad Relay," She continued to Carter. "Its data center was home to one of my xeno-archaeologists, Professor Laszlo Sorvad. Perhaps you could shed some light on his death."

"If he was a civilian male in his mid-sixties, he died with a Covenant Energy Sword through his abdomen."

"Elites then."

"They engaged us as well. It was just, uh, just after we found your scientist's daughter, ma'am. She was hiding in the-"

"Irrelevant." She told Jorge. The way he hesitated made think he has always known of her coldness. Though, the shocked look on his face didn't accurately portray this prior knowledge. "The Elites - tell me more about them."

"Three. Zealot class." I looked at Jorge as he spoke. "One got by us. The leader, from the looks of him." The way Jorge's humanity slips in him never ceases to amaze me. Though, every time the soldier within comes up thereafter always amazes me. He just doesn't look like he would be a killing-machine. Then I focused on what he had said.

_"Leader? He ran away like a coward."_ I looked back at Halsey.

"Zealots? You're certain?" She asked.

"Their armor configuration matched."

"Shield strength, too." I chimed in. That was most evident to me.

"I gave the order not to pursue," Carter added. "Our primary objective was to get the station's relay back online."

"Your primary objective? Commander, are you a puppet or a Spartan?" Jun and Emile looked up, slightly bewildered at her callous remark. I'm sure even Emile was felt the chill; as cold as he can be at times.

"Ma'am?"

"There are those at ONI, myself included who believe the Covenant dispatch Elite advance teams to hunt down artifacts of value to their religion. Survivor accounts suggest such teams are small, nimble, and almost always Zealot-class. No doubt they came to the station for the abundance of ONI excavation data stored there. And you let them get away."

"Data retrieval was not a command directive. Even had we known, we had other, more urgent, matters to attend to." Carter sounded so cool, like he always has been. He has only raised his voice once or maybe twice in the time I've known him. How many soldiers, I've wondered, have wanted to be like Carter that have known him?

"Like warning the planet." Kat added. Halsey came closer to the door.

"Professor Sorvad's final entry in his field notes made reference to 'a latchkey discovery'. Latchkey... Not a word he would use lightly. So let's hope that the data module your Lieutenant Commander stole contains it."

"Kat?" Carter asked Kat, looking a little bit shameful yet irritated.

_"So that's what she had her hands on at the start of this mission…"_

"Before you ask, I was alerted the moment you attempted to access its contents. As I am with any unauthorized tap." Kat placed the module in a container in the shield door. The way she dropped is was hesitant and cross, as if she really didn't want to throw it in there - and run away with it. Halsey pulls the container to her side of the door and retrieves the module, observing it closely. "That data is classified Tier One... I could send you to the brig for interfering with my work."

"Maybe you'd like to join her." Carter retorted. I chuckled to myself, and I swear I heard Emile do the same; possibly even Jun.

_"Always count on Carter to defend his Team. Maybe that's why he's such a good guy. He doesn't treat us like puppets - he treats us like soldiers, one of his own."_

"…I'm sorry?" She said, looking up at him. Kat seemed content, grateful of her Commander even. I would be, too, if that were me.

"We're currently under emergency planetary directive, WINTER CONTINGENCY. I'm sure you're familiar with the punishment for civilian interference with a Spartan deployment."

"Are you threatening me Commander?"

"Just making a reading suggestion ma'am. Let's move Noble Team." Kat followed Carter outside the Wing, Halsey closely pondering on the module, Emile and Jun coming after the two. I followed Jun, closely watching Carter's voice for any further instruction. Jorge, being so kind, asked Halsey,

"Ma'am?"

"That…will be all, Jorge." She was still analyzing the module, as if she didn't hear him.

* * *

On our way out, the Commander had looked at me, just as I was hoping he would.

"Six, I know you probably miss one thing in the world right now. I understand, from your file, that you're a sniper in training," Jun had his eye on me. He chuckled. Carter probably would have told me that Jun was Noble Team's sniper, which I already knew, but, in his wisdom, Carter let the conversation between Jun and I occur on its own.

"Looks like I've got some competition, I see." He hadn't put on his helmet until after he said those words, as if he wanted me to see that smirk on his face.

"Jun, I may be decent with hte rifle, but, noticing it since the beginning, you are the team's sniper; I'm just whatever I'm told. My only true preference of weapon is the DMR. If I can get my hands on a sniper, I'll use it. Otherwise, I'll use whatever I'm given."

"No, from what I've observed, Lieutenant, you're a mix of everything - including an assassin." I cocked my head.

_"Has he really been paying attention to me?"_ I shook my head. Of course he has, he's the eagle eye of the team; Noble's watchful hawk. He sees everything.

"I look forward to sniping with you, Six. It should be fun, heh heh," He said putting some bullets into the rifle.

"The two of you will be under the command of Kat; all three of you won't be on your mission until nightfall." Carter doesn't seem to be one for small talk; Jun, I know, could talk all day. Personally, I could too. Especially if it means meeting new people. Sure, I'm a lone wolf; but even I need to meet new people.

"That's the best time for sniping." Jun nodded confidently, gripping his rifle tightly.

"And the best time for the hawk to snatch up its prey." I added. I don't know why I said it, but I felt as though I should. No one really answered, but Jun sure looked at me real hard.

"Have you always had the mind of a sharpshooter, Lieutenant?" I smirked behind my helmet.

"I prefer the term, 'Be the bullet'." I replied holding my DMR casually. Jun loosely pointed his finger at me, moving it up and down in fast motions.

"I like how you think, Six."

"Alright, Jun, hand her a rifle, and hop the bird on your way to your destination. Get prepped."

_"I already am, Commander. I already am."_

As I entered the Falcon, I grew peaceful of one thing; I was within breathing distance of Jun. It was nice to relax, as I prefer doing rather than constant moving and killing. Hence why I prefer waiting upon my prey. Looking at the sunset, I embraced the future time I would have with Jun. I think I was slowly starting to understand the feeling I had towards him.

* * *

**Just for further clarification, I had always wondered what the transition was from level two to three was (actually, I grow curious with most of the level transitions of the Halo series) and I decided to add my own transition at the end. I probably could have done the same with the last few, but I feel a special connection between me and the third and fifth level. So stay tuned!**

**Next Time: Tyra and Jun have some bonding time.**


End file.
